Goths Galore

Walking down the street I meet a man with a skull head and green eye sockets. Added to which the man is closely accompanied by a woman in bridal wear also with a skeletal head. Not a nightmare but Goth weekend at Whitby.

The bride is soon resolved to be a sort of full sized model carried on his arm; although it would have been quite in character if she had been a real woman. On a Saturday afternoon along the main streets probably fully 20% are in costume.

The costumes are many and various; mostly black although some women wear bright colours; many with skulls and other ghoulish ornaments although equally many are simply what I think of as Victorian dress. For men this was mainly an old fashioned suit with a top hat. For ladies more varied with quite a number of corsets worn outside the clothes.

Having attended the steampunk market earlier in the year I can identify some as steampunk costumes which I know by goggles worn on the hat. The most ingenious idea was a couple in Victorian safari gear complete with pith helmets. The man was carrying a glass jar containing fairy figures suspended by threads from the lid. From any distance it looked remarkably like the fairies were flying around trying to escape. To complete the costume the couple were carrying butterfly nets. Lindsey took a photo of Ellen with them.

Before we went out Martin had remarked he was embarrassed to stare. I think he was too squeamish. The whole point was to see and be seen in an informal costume parade.

This is particularly a Whitby event because of the association with the vampire story “Dracula”. This features a shipwreck at Whitby and was written by Bram Stoker during a stay in the town.

The folks in costume are quite self regarding with many taking photo’s of each other. This is particularly so by Whitby Abbey ruins which dominate the cliff on the south side of the town. This is accessible by 199 steps from the town up the cliff side. I didn’t feel equal to this climb so Ellen and I stayed together while Annette and the others climbed. Ellen is very cute and immediately suggested we retire to an ice cream parlour to wait. She insisted she knew of this from going there with her mother although Lindsey later told me that Ellen had wanted to go there but had been refused. Anyway the visit cost me just an ice cream and a slab of cake- well worth it to keep her happy.

The next day we visited the James Cook museum.  Cook learned his sailing and navigational skills as a young man in Whitby before moving to London and joining the navy. After various exploits in Canada for example he was commissioned by the navy on his three great voyages of discovery. These were all in modified Whitby ships of which the “Endeavour” is the most famous.

The voyages were absolutely fantastic taking years and travelling into unknown waters. There was thought at the time to be a great southern continent; a combination of Australia and Antarctica. Although the initial objective was to make astronomical observations in the southern ocean Cook actually also landed in Australia ( at Botany Bay )  and also sailed up the east coast. This was a marathon as his ship was nearly wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef and he had to put ashore and make major repairs. Along the way he compiled charts of such accuracy that they were used in places up until WW11.

I hadn’t realised that New Zealand was relatively well known at this time as was some of the east coast of Australia. Cook’s voyages carried scientists who explored the entirely new flora and fauna and also artists to record visual features.

Whitby could hardly have more diverse claims to fame than Cook and Dracula.